Press Releases

2020: FCRF Reports Minor Decrease in Fancy Color Diamond Prices

New York, February 11,  2021: The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) announced today the Fancy Color Diamond INDEX results for Q4 and a summary of 2020. 

Q4 Results:

Pink
The prices of all Pink diamonds overall remained without a change in Q4 2020, with Fancy and Fancy Intense categories presenting a slight increase. The 1.00-1.49 and 2.00 to 2.99 carats segments presented an increase of 0.4% and 0.6% respectively, with the 2 carats Fancy Pink showing the highest increase of the quarter +1.4%. 

Blue
The Fancy grade in the Blue Index presented an overall increase of 0.2%, while the 1.5 and 5 carats stood out with an increase of 0.5%. However, Blue diamond prices overall presented a 0.5% decrease in Q4, led by the Vivid category that decreased by 0.6%. This decrease occurred due to the soft price of the 1 carat segment in this quarter. 

Yellow
The prices of Yellow diamonds in Q4 presented stability in all saturations, with the 3 carats segment increasing by 0.4%. The Fancy Intense 5 carat segment increased by 0.8% and the Fancy Vivid 3 carat segment rose by 0.7%. Interestingly, the Fancy Intense 1.5 carat segments showed a decrease of half a percent, while the Fancy grade 1.5 carat showed an increase of 0.6%. 

2020 results:

Although 2020 was challenging in terms of logistics and travel, contrary to market expectations, Fancy Color Diamond prices proved to be resilient, with minor price decreases across the board. Fancy Color diamonds decreased by less than one percent. The Yellow category decreased by 0.3%, Pinks by 0.9% and Blues by 1.3%. The Vivid category in all colors and sizes showed better stability, decreasing only by 0.4%. The Intense category decreased by 0.9%, and the Fancy category by 1%. 

FCRF Advisory Board member Eden Rachminov said: 

“2020 was a fascinating year; wholesalers and retailers alike had to overcome many logistical hurdles in order to finalize simple transactions, while demand for Fancy Color Diamonds was solid. I expect 2021 to be a bullish year for Yellows, their current price is relatively low and I think that a price increase is inevitable.”

After months of a logistical halt, a 0.7% decrease for Fancy Color Diamonds 

New York, November 12th, 2020: The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) announced today the results of the Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) for Q3 2020.

2020 will be remembered as the year the world stood still. Literally, most commercial and cargo flights halted, stores closed down and business resolved to work remotely with no travel to the office. Aligning with the COVID-19 restrictions, many businesses had not only to change the way they operate, but to slow down or close production completely.

After two long quarters, in which the FCRF was unable to conduct a price survey, we are thrilled to publish the first index for 2020. 

Q3 2020 results: 

On average, Fancy color prices slid down by 0.7%, however, with transactions picking up in Q3 2020, the FCDI displayed a general stability in relation to this chaotic period. The majority of categories experienced a decrease of less than 1%, while Yellow showed lower drops than Blue and Pink. The Vivid category in all color segments presented stability (-0.1%), in comparison to the Fancy grade (-1.1%) and Fancy Intense (-0.9%) categories.

Yellow
Yellow diamonds presented the lowest decrease in Q3 (-0.3%). The category that showed a significant increase is the Fancy Intense Yellow 8 carat, rising by 1.0%. In contrast, the Fancy Intense Yellow 5 carat category decreased (-2.4%).

Pink
Overall Pink diamond prices decreased by 0.8% in Q3 2020. The Fancy Vivid Pink category showed the greatest price drop (10 carat dropped by 3.5%), as well as the greatest price rise (1.5 carat rose by 1.6%).

Blue
Similar to Pinks, overall Blue diamond prices declined in Q3 (-0.8%). The 1.5 carat category decreased (1.8%) and the Fancy Vivid Blue 2 carat category increased (1.5%).

FCRF Advisory Board member Oren Schneider said: “While diamond trading is not yet fully back to pre-COVID ‘normalcy’, we are clearly seeing an increasing fancy color diamond transaction activity as a result of governments easing regulatory restrictions. We are looking forward to further improvement in the business environment leading into 2021.”

Diamond couriers and mining companies tell the industry’s story during COVID-19

Insufficient pricing data for compiling the fancy color diamond index

New York, August 7, 2020: 

The continuous freeze of business activity during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on the diamond trade. While demand for fancy color diamonds is percolating  and sales are in the pipeline, only a limited number of deals are actually executed. Leading diamond courier companies and mining companies have been reporting zero activity at certain periods of time, something that has never been witnessed before in diamond industry history. 

The diamond shipping numbers reported by Malca-Amit and Brinks, the world’s leading diamond courier companies, are consistent with the numbers reported by Fancy Color Diamond dealers and mining companies. During April, diamond shipping activity was at zero. However, in the months of May and June, activity started to gradually increase, and today they are hopeful about activity in the second half of 2020 and a rehabilitation of the industry by mid-2021.

In the last few weeks global diamond shipping has slowly resumed and auction houses have presented adequate results for mid-to-low quality Fancy Color Diamonds . This slow stream of transactions, while positive, started too late in the quarter to be included in the FCRF Index. The transaction input in this quarter was insufficient and  could not generate comprehensive conclusions without damaging the integrity of our output. These factors have resulted in the Fancy Color Diamond Index once again not being able to be published.

Mining companies have reported the cessation of mining work during certain months and there has been a very slow return to activity. This fact has resulted in sluggish sales of rough diamonds in comparison to the corresponding quarter last year. Despite Canadian mines still being on lockdown, some areas in the world are beginning to slowly resume production, such as the Alrosa mine in Russia and various mines in Africa.

FCRF Advisory Board member, Jim Pounds said: “While the relatively long closure of operations or reduced production by the mining companies may result in a shortage of rough diamonds at the beginning of 2021, it seems that the main factor will be the restricted movement of polished diamonds around the world.”

Below is a short timeline review of Q2 2020 Activity. The mining data excludes mid to small mining companies that do not report data to the market.

April
Courier companies – Diamond shipping activity was reduced by 90%-100%. 

Mining companies – Mining production gradually fell to ~30%  in Russia. Mines in Canada were completely shut down from March. Several mines in South Africa, as well as cutting and polishing facilities in India, were forced to shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions.

May
Courier companies – Diamond shipping activity was reduced by 70%-80% compared to the same time last year.

Mining companies – Access to South Africa and India was severely limited, as more mines were forced to shut down production, continuing the decline by 54%-100%, with sales based on existing stock.

June
Courier companies – Diamond shipping declined by 50%-70%.

Mining companies – Complete shutdown of production in many mines across the globe, with sales decreasing by 50%-97%, allowing clients to defer this quarter’s purchases to later in the year. July is showing a slow return to production in Russia.

Based on the gradual renewal of business transactions and flights, the FCRF hopes to publish the next index in Q3 2020.

COVID-19 Restrictions temporarily halt Fancy Color Diamond Trade

For the first time since its inception the FCRF will not publish a quarterly index

New York, April 13, 2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time since its inception in 2015, the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) will not publish the Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) for Q1 2020. 

The FCRF had concluded the quarterly data collection process from its data suppliers and learned that the volume of transactions conducted in March is not sufficient enough to establish accurate market pricing data, for the majority of fancy color diamond categories. Contrary to the great recession of 2008, this economic crisis is characterized by a complete logistical lockdown, with global restrictions that have caused retailers, shipping and other industry logistics to be completely blocked. Miri Chen, FCRF’s CEO explains, “This situation prevents the conveyance of diamonds from buyers to sellers regardless of fancy color market prices, while the index methodology is based on data compilation derived from a minimum volume of transactions per category. Under these circumstances, the FCRF advisory board has concluded that the integrity of our price analysis process is compromised, and has decided not to present pricing data for this quarter.”

The FCRF chairman, Mr. Eden Rachminov, went on to explain, “The unprecedented government restrictions, as a result of COVID-19, have brought fancy color diamond trading to a temporary halt. Cargo flights are not operating, logistical centers are closed and the stores at Place Vendome, New York and Hong Kong are on lockdown.” Mr. Rachminov added, “We are seeing orders in the pipeline that cannot be fulfilled due to these limitations. We fully expect trade to resume later in 2020 and the pricing data will be available when trade becomes possible again”.